Portland Trail Blazers GM Rich Cho says that the stalled Carmelo Anthony trade talks seem to be holding up other trade talks around the league. Posted by Ben Golliver.

Have you felt like a hostage to the endless Carmelo Anthony trade rumors? If so, you're in good company.

Portland Trail Blazers GM Rich Cho told Blazers Broadcasting on Tuesday night that he believes the stalled talks involving Denver's All-Star forward have impacted other league-wide trade talks. Asked in an interview with host Jay Allen and former Blazers Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter if he felt like business had slowed as everyone waits to find out Melo's fate, Cho agreed.

"It seems like it. It looked like that deal was going to go down with New Jersey. And then that got held up. I don't know if it's still going to go down or something is going to happen with New York or maybe Melo stays there [in Denver], but it does seem to be holding things up a little bit."

Back in January, the Blazers were linked to a possible trade scenario involving Anthony and the New Jersey Nets that later fell apart. At the time, NBA Fanhouse reported that multiple deals had been impacted by the Melo holdup.

Cho also noted said that this year is as unpredictable as ever when it comes to predicting how much trade activity there will be.

"It's hard to say. There's been years where I thought there was going to be a lot of activity and there was one year where only a second round pick got changed. And there was a year we thought would be fairly inactive and a lot of trades happened, so you just never know."

Cho's final message: stay tuned. "Typically, not much happens until the week of the deadline," he said. That would be next week, of course.

Courtney Lee is concerned about the trade deadline but knows it's out of his hands. Posted by Matt Moore

Courtney Lee would do well to write a book about his first three years in the league. He's gone through a good sampling of the emotional highs and lows for an average NBA player during the course of his career, in a very short amount of time. Drafted by Orlando and not expected to provide much, Lee wound up being a huge part of the Magic's run to the Finals. He was athletic, he was versatile, he hit big shots. He looked like a huge building block for the Magic. Then the Finals, particularly, Game 2. He was this close to winning Game 2 for the Magic on an improbably alley-oop. He couldn't convert what was a near-impossible play. But everything changed for Lee after that.

He was traded to New Jersey in the Vince Carter deal, and only narrowly avoided being a part of one of the worst teams in NBA history. Then this season he was traded to Houston, where he's become a solid role player. He's shooting 42% from the arc and averaging 15 points and 4 rebounds per 36 minutes. Still, with Houston expected to be active at the deadline in looking for deals, he could be on the move again. No rocket is immovable right now. And that's something that concerns him. From the Houston Chronicle:

Rockets guard Courtney Lee, who had been traded after each of his first two NBA seasons, said he is concerned with the trade deadline next week, but will be fine either way. "I'm happy," Lee said. "I've been traded twice so that doesn't faze me at all. Wherever I'm at, I enjoy. I'm going to be a professional and work hard. If that leads me to be somewhere else, I'll do the same."

Lee's saying all the right things, but he was unhappy when he was traded to the Nets, and having been traded twice now, he's got to be getting sick of it. It's not like he's a bust. Just for reference, Hasheem Thabeet can't seem to get out of town, but Courtney Lee gets swapped like a pog. This whole thing makes little sense sometimes.

The biggest knocks on Lee are a limited set of athleticism and the fact that he's a third year player and 25-years-old. Basically, his ceiling is low. But at the same time, he's shown a remarkable ability to step up and make big plays. Defensively, time in a stable system could push him along considerably. The Magic didn't think he was worth enough to keep, but then, the Magic also thought Vince Carter would be the thing to put them over the top. So obviously things don't always work out how they think.
Lee's going to be sweating through the trade deadline, hoping for some stability in his career. Too much movement can kill your ability to get comfortable, stay confident, and play through it. It's getting used to new coworkers every six months and having to figure out what a new boss wants from you, without any leverage. It's a rough way to work, even if it is getting paid millions to play basketball.

The fact that Hasheem Thabeet is still on the market is amazing. I mean, when you have a chance to add a player being paid as a number two overall pick avergaing 1.1 points, with 1.6 rebounds and .3 blocks while shooting 42% from the field with a PER of 4.8, how do you not jump at that opportunity? And yet the Memphis Grizzlies continue to struggle with finding a team willing to take on Thabeet. Because he is terrible.

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Second-year center Hasheem Thabeet remains the only piece Griz management is including in aggressive trade talks.

The longer this goes on, the more it's going to become a problem for Memphis. It's not just about getting rid of a drain on the payroll and rotation. Thabeet's presence is a reminder of one of the worst blunders in recent team history (and it's a pretty extensive list to begin with). The team could have had Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, even Jordan Hill would have been a better pick in 2009. So getting rid of him means they won't have to deal with his restricted free agency and can at least decrease the number of times that mistake is mentioned. Owner Michael Heisley has openly said that drafting Thabeet was his call (which should forever more be used as evidence as to why he should never be involved in basketball decisions), so the ignominy is that much worse.

Thabeet seems isolated in the locker room most times, and Lionel Hollins has elected not to use him in most games this season, even when there's a clear size advantage to be had. Thabeet's not without any redeeming qualities. He is tall, and there's a lot of upside there if he could find a coaching system that had the time, resources, and inclination to develop him. Lionel Hollins is not that coach.

The most likely scenario for how this situation ends? Thabeet is included in a deal for O.J. Mayo as the price for acquiring Mayo.